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After the “Fail Mary” in September, the Packers could play the Seahawks again in the playoffs.

After defeating the Minnesota Vikings last week, the Green Bay Packers are two wins away from Super Bowl XLVII.

If the Packers defeat the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night, they’ll move on to the NFC Championship. Who and where they’d play would be determined Sunday afternoon when the Falcons and Seahawks square off in Atlanta.

If the No. 1 seed Atlanta Falcons win, they’ll host the NFC Championship at the Georgia Dome. But if the Seahawks win, then the winner of Saturday’s Packers-49ers game will host the NFC Championship.

(Now would be a good time to mention that I fully expect this Saturday’s game against the 49ers to be a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire matchup that could go either way. The purpose of this post is not to overlook a good 49ers team, but rather, to look at (what could be) the next game on the Packers’ schedule.)

A rematch with Seattle would surely result in an amped-up Lambeau Field crowd, hungry for revenge after what happened on Sept. 24. But a rematch with Atlanta would mean the Packers, a team built for a fast track, would be playing indoors with a chance to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl.

This begs the question…

Would you, as a fan, rather see the Packers host the Seahawks at Lambeau Field or have them play the Falcons in the Georgia Dome?  Read more... (1506 words + 1 image, estimated 6:01 mins reading time)

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Packers CB Sam Shields is on the rise.

I’m writing this week’s Packers stock report while watching the Seahawks destroy the 49ers. After the Seahawks went up 14-0, my wife said that she hopes the Packers do not have to play the Seahawks in the playoffs.

I threatened to take back her Christmas present for uttering such nonsense. I want to play the Seahawks and I want to play them bad. I want to play them right now. Screw the Vikings. Bring on the Seahawks.

Beating the Seahawks in the playoffs would make me giddy. Every Packers fan should want to play the Seahawks again and beat the s**t out of them.

The Seahawks’ attitude after Fail Mary was a disgrace. Plus, Pete Carroll has always been a disgrace and it would be really sweet to beat him.

A Packers vs. Seahawks playoff matchup is what makes football awesome.

I’m getting all fired up just thinking about it. I need to calm down.

On to the stock report:

Rising

Aaron Rodgers
Welcome back to the rising category, sir. Please stay a while. At least through the first Sunday in February.

Sam Shields
Who put a quarter in Sam Shields? He’s like my little nieces and nephews when it’s time to open Christmas presents, all fired up and just attacking everything in sight. This aggression and emotion was nowhere to be found last season. Just like it makes me smile to see my little nieces and nephews tear into their presents, seeing Shields make picks and get to the QB on blitzes also makes me grin from ear to ear.  Read more... (550 words + 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

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With two more regular season games to go, here is an update on the Packers’ playoff situation:  Read more... (362 words + 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

• The Packers have already clinched the NFC North. They will be in the playoffs, guaranteed at least one home game and no worse than the fourth overall seed.
• If the season ended today, the Packers would be the third seed and host the sixth-seeded Vikings on wild-card weekend. That’s likely not going to hold up since the Packers play the Vikings in week 17. The Vikings also could win their next two games and still miss the playoffs.
• The Packers can move up to the second seed if they win out and the 49ers lose once. The 49ers are at Seattle this week and host Arizona in week 17.
• Whether the Packers move up to the second seed, or stay at No. 3, a second-round matchup with the 49ers looks likely. If the Packers are the third seed and win their first-round game, they would travel to San Francisco. If the Packers are the second seed and the 49ers win their first-round game as the No. 3 seed, San Francisco would visit Green Bay.
• The Packers can get the first seed if they win out and the Falcons lose their last two games.
• If the Packers stay the third seed, it’s very likely that their first-round game will be against a wild-card team from the NFC East or the Bears.

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Packers T Marshall Newhouse has been solid so far this season.

Regular readers of this site know that we like to cite Pro Football Focus (PFF) metrics when talking about the Packers. I wouldn’t call any of us football sabermaticians, but PFF does some excellent work trying to make football analysis as objective as possible.

Too often, people either treat sites like PFF as the be-all and end-all of analysis, or dismiss their work entirely. I do neither. PFF is another tool in the toolbox as we continue to try and understand this complicated game called football.

Anyway, PFF had a doozy the other day: Marshall Newhouse is rated as the fifth-best pass blocking offensive tackle in the NFL. That’s according to PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency statistic.

I’m not kidding. Marshall Newhouse. The guy who was supposed to be the weak link on the Packers offensive line. The guy who PFF rated as one of the wort tackles in football last season. Yeah, that guy.

Don’t believe me? Check out the story for yourself. In addition to all the rankings, you can see exactly how PFF comes up with its pass-blocking efficiency (PBE) stat (also check out their pass-block rating stat because I’ll be talking about that later on).

Marshall Newhouse? For Real?

I’m not questioning PFF’s work, but my immediate reaction upon hearing that Newhouse has been the fifth-best pass-blocking tackle in the league so far was to snort and laugh a little.  Read more... (1005 words + 1 image, estimated 4:01 mins reading time)

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Packers OLB Clay Matthews tops the list of Packers on the rising

My inbox has been overflowing with emails asking where the Packers Stock Report has gone.

It hasn’t gone anywhere. Its creator has just forgotten to do one through the first two weeks of the season. Its creator is also lying about his inbox overflowing with queries about the Packers Stock Report. I’ve gotten the same number of inquiries about it as the New Orleans Saints have wins.

So, back by not-so-popular demand, here is your Week 3 Packers Stock Report:

Rising

Clay Matthews
Even though he didn’t get a sack on Monday night, he was still creating havok on pass rushes and collapsed to the middle of the line on running plays. Matthews has been impossible to stop through three games. He’s the type of player that other offenses have to build gameplans around and a big reason why the Packers secondary has shown improvement.

A.J. Hawk
Wha wha what?!?! Yes, Hawk has stepped his game up in the absence of Desmond Bishop. He hasn’t magically morphed into Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher in their primes, but that’s beside the point. The Packers need A.J. Hawk to be the A.J. Hawk of late 2010: Assignment-sure, tackle the ballcarrier if he’s in your area, and every now and then blast a RB for a loss. According to Pro Football Focus, Hawk has 18 tackles, nine of which have resulted in an offensive failure. Hawk had six tackles and four offensive failure stops through three games last season.  Read more... (699 words + 1 image, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)

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M.D. Jennings and Golden Tate

No fancy intro to this post. I’m getting straight to the anger and I invite Packers fans to do the same in the comments section.

What pissed you off about last night’s Packers loss to the Seahawks? I’m not looking for one or two things. I’m looking for a laundry list. Let it fly, people.

Here we go:  Read more... (873 words + 1 image, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

• I’m pissed at the NFL. My favorite sport is turning into a reality TV show. Joke refs. Labor disputes. Tebowmania. Programming overkill. Putting clown analysts on the air instead of insightful commentators. Joke refs (did I mention that already?). A commissioner that now has less credibility than Bud Selig. Greedy and whiny owners and players. Pete Carroll. Imposter officials (have I mentioned that yet?). That’s pretty much all the elements of a reality TV show that appeals to the lowest common denominator of society instead of positioning itself for long-term sustainability and success by actually caring about its product.

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There is not much structure in the Packers early-season schedule.

I’m one of those people that shows up early to work and tries to get as much done as possible before other people start filing into the office and my phone starts ringing.

Yeah, it’s no fun dragging myself out of bed at 5:15 a.m., but once I get to the office and get rolling, it’s nice to have a few hours of relative quiet time so I can get my busy work out of the way before tackling the tasks that require me to interact with other human beings.

With the Packers first four games starting at 3:15 p.m., 7:20 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., rising early is not an option.

The training camp schedule also is a little different. After a week of practices starting at 8:15 a.m., the Packers will have seven consecutive practices at night, followed by a week of practices that start at 11 or 11:15 a.m.

McCarthy originally thought about eliminating night practices this season, but changed his mind once he saw the quirky start times for his team’s first four games. From PackerReport:

“The fact that we come out of the gate and play Sunday afternoon on national TV at home, then play Thursday night at home and then go away 11 days later on a Monday night, and then on a short week here at home, I wanted to make sure our players were challenged from the fact of the regularity is going to be a little up and down to start the season,” McCarthy said.  Read more... (808 words + 1 image, estimated 3:14 mins reading time)

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